


Fire Arc

by ToraRyusei



Series: Five Elements [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Sadness, Self-Indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-27 13:38:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19791997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToraRyusei/pseuds/ToraRyusei





	1. Find a Way

“—And that concludes our financial report. I’d like to thank Mr. Migakaze for being in attendance today, I know just how busy your schedule must be.” A thin suited man spoke in front of a screen projecting several bars and graphs that would look like gibberish to the average person. To Takii though, they were as clear as a written language. A blurry written language.

“Mr. Migakaze?” A further pressing for a response got his inattentive gaze immediately turn to the man at the end of the long conference hall.

“Ah, yes. Good work as always, Gozo.” Takii Migakaze flashed his perfectly practiced smile at the man while cursing himself internally for almost having dozed off at a meeting, again.

“Well then, I’d say this meeting’s adjourned. And a thank you to everyone else for coming as well.” A third voice chimed in from the man seated in the chair next to Takii’s. He was an elderly man with a round face and kind smile. Mr. Andre Glacier. A man who had been with the company for decades, back when Takii’s father had only just started as CEO of Migakaze Heavy Industries. Though he had come from afar, he had taken quickly to the work ethic of the company, and had initially gravitated towards working for them due to the company image of Migakaze Industries, along with the many deeds they had done for the community and for their employees.

As the room cleared out save for Takii and Mr. Glacier, the blonde couldn’t help but think to himself how this man despite being his father’s senior still had a few strands of dark hair left atop his head, whereas his father’s hair had been as white as snow for as long as he could remember.

“Did my old man always have white hair?” He blurted out of the blue. His natural inquisitiveness had gotten the better of him yet again, a fatal fault of the Tiger was his perpetual nosiness. A good trait for a hero to have, but not so much for anyone you’d like to be friends with to have.

“That’s right. He was about your age when he first started working for the company, even back then he had the hair of an old man, and the soul of one too.”

“Good to know he’s always been like that.”

“Now now, even your parents were once children, Takii-kun. Look at yourself now, hardly the same carefree boy that first stepped in to this company.”

“That so? Say, you didn’t catch a hint of bitterness in that guy’s tone when he thanked me for coming, did you? I’m pretty sure he was being sarcastic.” Said Takii, changing the conversation as abruptly as he’d started it.

“You’re simply being paranoid. It’s quite natural for a CEO to be only barely show up for meetings, especially when they’re young such as you. I’m sure he just believes you’re the rich playboy type, living off the money earned by your parents.” Glacier replied.

His was a face that made it feel like you could tell him anything, and oftentimes he would remark to Takii about how on bus rides those sitting next to him would get to conversing with him. Be it a simple question or their entire life story, such was the friendly aura this man exuded. Even so, at times he could be exceptionally harsh, despite his appearance.

“Even though I’d rather that than he know the truth about what I’m doing, it still stings a bit to hear your assessment.” Takii grumbled.

“Mhm, this way they couldn’t possibly believe that their boss is secretly out fighting monsters when he’s not in the office.” Of course, as a trusted friend of both Takii and his father, Glacier had long since known the secret of the Migakaze. For a normal human to be privy to the knowledge of the world of Beasts was unprecedented, and it felt good to have someone to talk to who knew what he was going through, a fully ordinary human he could rely upon. It was enough to put Takii so at ease that he might fall asleep, or maybe that was due to the fact he’d been awake for three days? His vision gradually became blurry.

Rather, one eyes vision had turned unfocused.

Takii jolted up in his seat. He stared straight ahead, focusing on a patch of the white wall at the end of the room while Glacier looked at him curiously. Closing one eye then the other, he noticed immediately which eye was failing. He traced the scar which ran down the left side of his face and over his eye. That wound which had been given to him that fateful night where he’d lost a dear friend.

He had been foolish to think the only consequences from receiving a cut down his face would be a faded scar. In the months since the duel with the youkai Engetsu, his vision had been slowly deteriorating. Perhaps he could have seen a doctor, were he not so stubborn, but could they have done something to help him, when even his superhuman body that could repair even the gravest of wounds wasn’t able to fix his eye? The thought was chilling, and he was suddenly reminded of Shinsuke’s words. The man who spoke of mortality so frivolously, and now Takii could feel death encroaching upon him. A consequence beyond a measly scar.

“Takii-kun, is everything alright?” Glacier’s words brought him back to reality. Anxiety took him over, telling him to act before his vision got any worse. There was a million things to do, one of which simply couldn’t be done with impaired sight.

“Sorry, I have to step out now. Could you…?”

“Not to worry Takii-kun, I’ll whip up some excuse. Family affairs come first, and the Migakaze head surely has a lot on his plate.” Reassuring words gave Takii momentary ease before nerves were once again shocked by the immediate task ahead.

Yata no Kagami. It was the incident caused by that mirror which had given him this scar, his waning vision, and the loss of his dear friend. He had collected the fragments of the mirror bit by bit over the course of several months, but now the pressure to collect that final piece became all the heavier.

As Takii stepped out of the building owned by Migakaze Industries, he recalled the words repeated to him by his father over the course of his training. Even now he could hear them played clearly in his head:

“Find a way.”


	2. Former King

“So, what brings you here to the outskirts of town?"

That was the greeting given to Takii upon stepping into the man’s home. He was a stern looking gentleman of about fifty years of age, with salt and pepper black hair cut neat and short. His eyelids were mostly shut, with his eyes not even visible behind the tiny slit that allowed the man to see. It was not the mischievous fox face as his eyes might imply, but that of a wisened fox who had survived many attempts on his life by hunters. He was surprisingly friendly, and even offered a complete stranger like Takii entrance. It was a rather large house, quite old as well. There on every wall there were rows of books, shelves upon shelves of books.

“Just some business I had to deal with. I think I mentioned it on the phone, something of my family’s that was here.”

The reason for its expansiveness, for its large collection of texts was that this home once used to be a library. Through a series of circumstances, this man had acquired the property as a newer, grander library was built closer to the center of town. The man who lived here was just one of the many curiosities of this town, although the purchase had been made a couple decades ago, and his name and act that gained him recognition among town had been mostly forgotten by people, and the people of Takii’s generation didn’t know there even used to be an old library out on the edge of town.

_This town attracts all sorts of people, not just the supernatural,_ Takii thought to himself as he was brought to the end of the building, a room smaller than the rest, used as a living area on account of the chairs and coffee table in the middle.

“I hope you don’t mind me saying, but this place is pretty clean for someone living by themselves.” Takii remarked as he was offered the couch while the man took the large cushioned wooden chair. Both had that Victorian era style which fit perfectly with all the wooden shelves of the library interior. It really gave the sense that they weren’t in Japan at all, but in some centuries old manor in England.

“I have housekeepers come by every other day to keep things nice and cleanly. I have a terrible dust allergy.” The man replied.

“Now…about that item you mentioned. I’m assuming it’s a book?”

“Ah, not exactly. It’s a family heirloom that I’ve been trying to track down for a while now, a sentimental thing really. It doesn’t really look like anything of value, but I got a tip from a family member that it was here.” A half-truth. While the item in question wasn’t exactly an heirloom, a sort of relative of his had assisted in tracking it down.

The head of the Snow Leopard family, Vesper. After being defeated by him, she started working for him to support her family. She was cold as her family lineage implied, but efficient and a born fighter, just like Takii. Albeit her talents ranged in all sorts of espionage and types of modern military equipment that Takii had no idea how to manage.

“I’m not sure I have anything like that. Most of the things that had been kept in this library’s lost and found I either threw away or sold. I’m not sure how a family heirloom of yours would find its way to the library, either.

Unless you’re talking about the mirror.”

The atmosphere suddenly changed. It wasn’t Takii’s doing, his aura was not the one exuding a harsh pressure on the room. The Tiger broke out into a cold sweat, his mind a calamitous storm of questions as the man pulled from the inner pocket of his jacket the reflective glass shard, a piece of Yata no Kagami.

“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t play that boring game anymore. I’m a man who likes to get right to the chase.” Those slits opened to reveal the man’s eyes. Unnatural wasn’t enough to describe them. Pure white eyes on black schlera, a piercing combination that made it feel as if Takii had momentarily exited his body, such was the shock. Here he thought he’d seen everything, and yet there still things that would put him so on edge.

_Allow me to introduce myself. I am Balor. King of the Fomorians. Wielder of the Evil Eye. From one fellow king to another, I welcome you._

The man’s mouth did not move, but a voice was transmitted to Takii’s head. A sort of telepathy that easily bridged language barriers by delivering the meaning of a message for the recipient’s brain to decode. It was fascinating and terrifying all at once.

“How did you know who I am…?”

_Seems there’s still many things you do not know about this mirror. Bending time to conjure the past is its principle power, but how you wish to use it is up to the wielder’s ability. Information on people and their history can be easily brought up, should you know how to do so. I ‘read’ up on you the moment you arrived._

As Balor explained, he sunk the mirror into his forehead. It seeped in with just a bit of resistance, until it was fully submerged where his brain should be.

_This man you see was the original owner of the mirror. You can tell that he was quite the literary enthusiast, and as it turns out he had quite an interest in the ‘mythology’ of the Celts. For better or worse, the mirror picked up on his desires and began conjuring those people of the past for him. That was the moment I seized my chance and took possession of his body, along with that of the mirror._

Takii was speechless. In all the encounters he had with wielders of Yata no Kagami’s shards, never had the conjured being taken willful control of the mirror, or had known how to use it to such an extent as Balor. It was proof that he was the genuine article, the king of drought whose eye could extinguish life with just a single glance.

Balor continued with a muted amusement, as he spoke his form would alter itself to something more appropriate for the being. The loose brown jacket and dark blue trousers were replaced with robes of ebony, accentuated with coral hues at the ends of the sleeves and down the middle. Fingers were covered in slim gauntlets of gold, with sharp talon-like nails. His face changed to one befitting of regality, with dark copper hair long and unkempt which fell down to his collar. Eyes would shift to a dark blue like the deepest reaches of the sea.

Around his forehead, seven rings of pure gold which formed a sort of crown. Each ring was worn at a different angle, but they all met at a single point right at the center of his forehead. Even now, he could feel a harsh power radiating from that spot. There was no doubt, that crown was meant to hold the power at bay, that of his Evil Eye.

_Be at ease, Tiger King. The time for combat is yet to come. For now, I would like for us to converse as fellow rulers. We have much in common, you and I. Both our lineage precedes that of humans, and yet we both must yield our kingdoms to them. The only difference would be you do so willingly._

At last Takii broke his silence, speaking with a parched throat. He could feel it, the pressure of that eye had made the room one where oxygen was sparse and the air felt hot, a change made even when his eye was sealed off.

“I know your legend. I’d rather not associate myself with an enemy to mankind. Our similarities end at being fellow rulers, Fomorian King.”

_Not so, Tiger King. We have both suffered greatly due to humanity, yet you seem to willingly burden yourself with loss for their sake. You are not beholden to their safety, for you are a king, one whose safety comes before the people’s. Even now you suffer, your body scarred and mangled from battles for humanity’s survival, and what’s more, your vision seems to be failing you._

Another jolt ran up his spine. His blurry sight from his left eye he’d tried to ignore was called to attention, it made his face contort in an appropriate look of anger, and of shock.

“How did you…”

_I am not so dull that I cannot perceive such weakness in a man sitting in front of me. The way you struggle to focus your sight, it’s truly pitiful. Not fitting at all for royalty._

Balor stands, and only then can Takii note his towering height, greater than even Takii’s.

_There will come a time where you will choose your allegiance towards humanity or your own kind. As they stand, they cannot coexist peacefully. You are not strong enough to bring peace._

Cold damnation of Takii’s efforts sparked that rage which hid beneath the intimidated shell of the Tiger. He rose as well, smoldering golden eyes would meet serene dark hues.

“I don’t care what it is you say, this is the path that I’ve chosen. You…you’re just a fabrication of a dead man. A phantom, nothing more. Now…hand over that mirror.”

_You are asking to forsake my second chance at life, Tiger King. If it is the mirror shard that you want, you will have to tear it out of my skull. I’m certain you believed it was inevitable, however. It was our fate to cross swords. And once I am done with you, my eye shall raze every trace of human civilization in sight._

Snap. One of the crown’s rings is broken in two by Balor, falling to the ground with a dainty clank. The temperature rises again, until the heat waves are visible fluctuations in the air. Takii’s body felt heavy, and he knew that any advantage he might have had thanks to agile limbs would be negated by this factor.

Balor summoned a blade. It was a long slab of obsidian metal, looking as if it were forged in magma. Small, sharp protrusions along the length of the sword walked the line between being a weapon merely meant for slaughter and an elegant armament meant only for royalty to wield. He raised the blade up with ease, holding it parallel to his eyes and pointed downward at an acute angle at the Tiger.

There was already an obvious difference in their skill and power, even without the eye Balor would be a threat, with it, he was a force of nature.

“You said something about the mirror having more than one way to be used...I’m betting on that.” Takii had not come unprepared. His hand brought out his own mirror shard, stowed away in his pocket and gripped tightly in his hand. To bring something from the past back to the present. If that was possible, then perhaps he could see ‘her’ one last time.

“You’ll have to forgive me, tarnishing your sacrifice like this, but I need you here, partner.” The mirror would reflect the user’s greatest desire, or fear. If Balor was right, if such a thing could be manipulated, then what would be replaced by the mirror is…

“Nothing would make me happier than fighting together, one last time.” A sword of pure bronze, straight dual edge was the epitome of simplicity, and belied its form shifting capabilities. It was the tsukumogami known as Fang, the blade that had perished defending him. Even if it was but a mere recollection of her taken from the past, seeing her once more imbued him with a confidence needed to face the bringer of calamity before him.

Snap. A second ring was broken, and fell to the floor. The library’s many tomes immediately caught fire , and Takii only managed to escape the same fate through the extension of his _aura_ , serving as a protective barrier from the pure malice that Balor’s evil eye brought.

_Come, Tiger King. Taste my blade and make yourself a legend in this world without myths._

Takii darted forward with a swift kick to the floor. He would not falter; his resolve had already been tested. To protect humanity, he would do whatever it takes.


	3. Vs. Balor the Evil Eye

Sparks added to the flame. Sharp lines carved to the wooden floor around the two combatants, scars from their swords being dragged along the ground as they meet to swing again. A towering man cloaked in black, a being of shadows who seemed to not so much as struggle swinging his blade, a sword as tall as himself. His opponent, a man with the essence of a beast, repelling each blow with aching muscles as his mind tried with failing dexterity to provide a way to fight back against the onslaught of blows which sent tremors down to his bones. His bronze sword, changing shape through a connection with its wielder, parried and guarded, cleaved and lunged, yet not a single blow would reach his target. For every retaliation he could muster, there were countless swings with the strength to split him with a cruel ease.

All around them were flames which sealed any chance of escape. A hellish cell that assured even a victory might not assure survival, and that if Takii sought to bide his time, he might face immolation. The library’s structure was slowly but surely being eaten away by the flames, and soon it would collapse upon the two combatants. Even then, Balor would not cease. He was at home amongst the destructive chaos, for it was his eye which brought it all forth. An eye which helped chip away at Takii’s endurance, as he projected a golden aura around himself to keep the eye from reducing him to ash.

Even in this hopeless battle, he persevered. He would sacrifice stamina in exchange for an opportunity to see Balor slip up, to recognize a pattern in his swings and punish the repetition.

There it was, a delay in his winding up of the blade gave him a split-second chance to strike Balor with a hit to cripple the giant. His sword became a four-pronged spear, branches with ends just as sharp as the main tip of the lance itself. It thrust itself forward in that opening. Yet, Balor’s eyes would remain passively trained on Takii.

_At last, a break in the monotony._ Balor’s thoughts voiced in Takii’s head.

Balor shifted ever so slightly in his footing, and thus the spear beautifully missed its target. Only one of the prongs would pierce through the dreaded Fomor King’s cloak and to the flesh beneath, but there was not so much as a grunt from the wounded Balor. He used the opportunity to secure the spear between his arm and side for a solitary moment, as a third ring of his crown was broken. Takii’s spear receded back into the form of a blade, as he breathlessly exclaimed a half-uttered profanity. A blast of heat radiated from Balor’s evil eye, but now it had something more mixed into it.

It was a scent Takii was familiar with. Of death and decay, Balor’s eye did more than turn all in its sight to ash, it would extinguish even the ash itself. He could only now fully understand the gap in power that eye gave the Fomor King, that if he were to remove the four rings left that sealed his eye, it would leave nothing of this place, of Takii.

Death. Instant. Never had his life felt so fragile, for there had always been a chance he could fight back, overcome adversity. No, if Balor wanted not even Takii’s aura could protect him from the Evil Eye’s full power.

No, he couldn't give up.

If he fell into despair now, he wouldn’t even have a chance of reaching the point of witnessing the full might of Balor’s Evil Eye. He had managed a wound on him, albeit a minor one. All he had to do was exploit that weakness and stop him before he could release the rest of the seals.

_Such tenacity. For a moment, I thought you had surrendered to the terror as many have before you._

Balor taunted. That’s right, Balor had slain scores of humans before and driven even more to hopelessness by the thought of standing beneath his deadly gaze. Yet his legend also told of his eventual demise. He was not infallible.

“Guh—!!” Takii felt a part of his midsection crack. Balor’s arm hit him in the side like a tree trunk. He couldn't even register the blow before he was sent flying across the library to collide with one of the bookshelves currently aflame.

Even without its full power, Balor’s eye took a toll on his body. It slowed him down to the point where even his senses weren’t exempt. Rising shakily to his feet, Takii steeled himself as the shadowy giant lurched forward to corner him. Takii escaped deftly as Balor’s sword made a horizontal cut through the row of flames.

Focus, he would focus every ounce of his aura on protecting him from the eye’s effects. His chance would come soon, he had to believe that.

Pillars bathed in flame fell from the ceiling, Takii dove beneath them in the hopes they might slow down Balor’s pursuit, but the Fomor King charged forth unabated, the flames seemed afraid to even singe his cloak.

Takii had turned around, yet Balor was already there. For an instant, a wild grin rose up on Takii’s face. Balor’s sword was coming down on him, but the Tiger was ready. His blade was lighter, faster, Takii’s bronze sword rose up and morphed into a claymore as it was swung, already carrying a momentum that surpassed Balor’s. It would create a long vertical slash along the body of the giant, sure to secure his victory.

But he had celebrated too soon. Takii's vision became blurry and created a momentary defenselessness in that crucial moment as he brought up his blade. A hot sensation ran down his left shoulder down to the right side of his waist, followed by excruciating pain as blood spilled forth. He screamed, yet he couldn’t even hear his own cries. Balor hadn’t stopped the descent of his blade. Takii hadn’t even seen it coming.

_I was waiting for you to slip again._

Balor spoke as his blood-stained sword of obsidian and barbs let its point crash to the floor.

_You’re going blind in your left eye, aren’t you?_

The Fomor King wouldn’t be allowing the Tiger to rest. Though he had returned the favor, the wound Balor suffered was too deep. He needed to end this now, to assure himself that Takii would not survive.

_That was how I could hit your side. You had misgauged the limits of your eye. I did not._

Takii fell to his knees, his sword helping keep him from falling completely over. He was losing blood fast. His mind was fading along with his vision. The control he had over the mirror subsided with his dwindling concentration, his trusted blade Fang vanished, replaced with a mirror shard that dug into his palm with a sense that it might cut fully into it with how hard he gripped it.

The fourth seal had been broken, and Balor’s eye began to eradicate all in its sight. The library did not burn, but was _erased_ as if it had never even been here. No trace, no dust, it was broken down to its most basic origin and then became nothing. Takii could feel that influence on him too, he didn’t have the strength to fight back—to struggle any longer.

Well…At least he got even with Balor. An eye for an eye, as they say.

…The mirror burned with the heat still in the air. It seemed to call for him. That there still might be a chance.

“Yeah…An eye for an eye.” He gripped the shard tighter. Someone had once told him, to become stronger means to sacrifice something. There’s no proper gain without relinquishing something in return. If he was going to lose it anyway…it might as well serve as a step towards greater power. Towards a chance at survival. Balor said it himself, this mirror can do more than just summon the past.

Wet, slick pop. He immediately felt mad for attempting it, no, that’s wrong. He’d gone mad from the pain of his wound, and now even jabbing the mirror shard into his left eye only carried with it a certain numbness.

For the first time, Balor’s voice did not echo through his mind but was delivered to his ears. It was a hushed intake of air, not believing the Tiger’s insane gamble. Yet, it worked.

The mirror’s power melded with him. His sight returned, and with it, he was granted _that_ power, the one he had struggled to overcome the entire fight.

The Evil Eye. 邪視

Power of erasure met erasure. They collided and negated each other, leaving only an unsettling stillness of void between two of the same power, never meant to exist together. Balor hesitated, his power had been copied, never in his life would he think someone else might burden themselves with the destructive might of the Eye. It was that momentary, fraction of a second that allowed Takii to leap with a strength he didn’t even have, and sink his claws right into Balor’s Evil Eye. The crown was irrevocably shattered, the seals released, but before the eye could unleash its full destructive might, he ripped out the mirror shard embedded within the giant’s head.

No blood was spilled. In its place were shadows that receded as his cloak became mere wisps in the air, the rest of him soon followed as the shard which anchored him to the present was taken from him. Despite that, Balor smiled a wicked grin.

_Relish…for this is the victory you’ve obtained. One grasped with all of your might. Watch now as they call you monster, your beloved humanity will see the real you. Then…you will remember my words…Tiger King._

With that final message, the Fomor King was no more. It could not be called death, at least Takii would think as much. He stood there now, in front of where Balor once was. It all felt like a nightmare now, in the midst of a partially smoldering library, its entire front entrance completely gone from the effects of Balor’s eye. His new power, his Evil Eye, burned hot and felt as if it might vaporize whatever it laid its eyes on, so he looked to the ground.

A pool of blood at his feet. His wounds were grave, and he needed a way to patch himself up before he lost consciousness. It was impressive however he hadn’t passed out yet, considering the amount of blood on the floor. It had even begun to trail, forward, where…

A corpse laid.

The body of the man Balor had possessed.

That’s right. So caught up in making it out alive that he had forgotten the code he lived by. His desperation to overcome Balor had blinded him to the fact that there was someone here who needed saving, and now.

He had broken his promise, to never kill a human being. All too quickly, he realized the horror of his actions.

He’d finally become what he feared. A monster.

“Well done, Takii-kun. You’ve saved us a lot of trouble. Ah, though now we’re going to have to pull that thing out of your head.”

Whose voice was that…? It sounded familiar, but upon hearing that voice, he could only feel dread. Takii couldn’t even turn and see who it was, as he finally collapsed.


End file.
